Fortepan 400 film

[Catherine C]

Hello, my name is Catherine. I have recently purchased a Linhof Technika and I'm needing to decide on a film to use. I have purchased a couple of boxes of fortepan 400 professional. My question is - have any of you used this fim before and if so, what are the pros and cons according to your experience. I currently use forte papers. Thanks in advance

[David A. Goldfarb]

I've been using it under the J&C Classic brand, and it's good film (in its current incarnation--the older version didn't have much density range). I've tried it in a few different developers, and you can process it and expose it much like the old Tri-X sheet film (TXT). The look is a little different from TXT, but it's similar. It looks particularly good, in my opinion, in ABC pyro.

Handle it carefully, particularly if you process in trays, because it is more fragile than Kodak or Ilford films. I also recommend a 2 minute presoak to remove the blue-green dye.

If you search for threads on "J&C Classic 400" and "ClassicPan 400" you'll find more info, but be sure you're looking at relatively recent posts. I think the first coating of the new Forte/Classic/ClassicPan 400 was in November 2003, and the old stock was around for a while after that.

[David Karp]

I used this film recently in its Arista.Edu variety. (I was informed by a friend who works there that this film is Fortepan 400.) I developed my negatives in a home brew 2 bath developer created by the late Barry Thornton (metol and sodium sulfite in bath A, sodium metaborate in bath B). The negatives look good (I exposed the film at IE 200). The film appears granier than what I am used to (Arista Professional 400, which is HP5+). I don't think it is a problem, unless you scene has large expanses of similar tone, such as a sky. The detail shots I made look great, but the skies look granier than I am used to with this developer and the Arista 400 Professional I have been using. The graininess in the sky would probably be mitigated by using a pyro or pyrocatechin staining developer.

It should also be noted that I have not yet printed these negatives. Based on my experience, these negatives look like they will print very nicely. I hope the skies are not overly grainy though.

[Erik Gould]

I just tried out some 8x10 Arista.edu 400 film, which I think is Forte. It looks pretty good, but a bit grainy, much grainer than tri-x or hp-5+, not a big deal in an 8x10 neg, but still. My bigger concern is with what looks like coating problems in a couple of sheets. I see some emulsion defects that do not seem like they happened during processing, but I don't have enough to go on yet.

[Jay DeFehr]

Despite a few handling quirks, Edu.400 is great film. It stains well in staining developers, and builds plenty of density for printing on Azo or Platinum, even with non-staining developers. I don't find its grain objectionable in 11x14 enlargements from 6x7 negatives when developed in PC-TEA, or other fine grain developers.